Next Steps to Promoting EMF Safety
Everyone Can Spread Awareness
The public needs to be properly informed and updated on the latest health news concerning cell phones, Wi-Fi, cell towers, smart meters, and other sources of EMF's. Informational pamphlets can be shared to educate others about EMF precautions, such as the Environmental Health Trust's briefing book. The Environmental Health Trust also suggests fostering awareness by hosting a school programs.
Manufacturers/Engineers Could Redesign Wireless Technology With Standby Mode
Most Wi-Fi routers and DECT digital cordless phone base stations radiate all the time. Engineers could redesign the wireless technology to emit lower powered signals and to radiate only during usage (e.g., Wifi access points with adjustable power, the Orchid Dect Phone and voice activated safer baby monitors). For example, for traffic control radar guns, a "dead-man" switch was later introduced to have them emit only during active contact.
Legislators Can Give Us the "Right to Know," Call for Precautionary Siting, and Protect Those With Disability
- Policies need to be updated with power density safety limits which are ALARA (as low as reasonably attainable). Stricter placement of mobile phone base stations is required, e.g., away from schools, medical centeres, and residential areas. (See the European Parliament's statement calling for precautionary siting of base stations.) People need sufficient warning and time to respond to new mobile phone mast applications.
- Section 704 of the The Telecommunications Act of 1996, which takes away the right of state and local governments to influence the placement of cell towers for health and environmental reasons, should be overturned as called for by Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.
- Policies are also needed to help those with disability to have access to society. For example, in Sweden, EHS is recognized as a disability. Spain and France have also set a precedent for recognition in court of EHS as a disability. Radiation free zones are needed for those who are severely handicapped by wireless technologies. The European council in May 2011 called for protection of electrosensitive people.
- Cell phone right to know bills are needed, such as the one recently passed in San Francisco, which require disclosure of radiation levels at point of sale, although the SAR rating is not really an ideal standard due to its flaws and the mistaken assumption that only thermal effects have health consequences.
- It would also be helpful to have disclosure requirements for homes for sale and apartments, similar to warnings about lead in old apartments. Home inspections could be used to verify not only radon levels, but also wireless and powerline magnetic fields.
For more information, see Next steps for legislators, regulators, manufacturers, etc. and Advocacy Support
Scientists and Epidemiologists
When analyzing studies, the source of funding needs to be taken into account due to the conflicts of interest in industry-funded science. More independent scientific and epidemiological research is needed, as the current evidence indicates that wireless technologies may have far devastating consequences on our health and environment than we realize. More studies are needed to explore the possible link to other diseases besides brain tumors, including immunological/neurological diseases, autism, cardiac problems, and salivary gland cancers. It is important that these studies are conducted independently of industry control and influence.
Doctors and health care workers
The medical profession needs to be properly informed about the risks and symptoms, so that they can help people made ill by the technology to make a proper diagnosis, and so that they can minimize the medical use of wireless equipment. It is important to get to the root of the problem, and not just the symptoms (see Dr. Mercola's video on "skid marks disease".) Then, proper detection, shielding, avoidance, nutrition, etc. can be suggested. Although there are indeed many scams out there that promise protection by a special pendant or device, this should not turn us off to the fact that there are also true shielding solutions out there, which can be verified with a detection device.
Rating Systems
Rating systems like TCO's approval for computer monitors, can one day be easily used by the public to decide upon which phone to buy. A different rating system is recommended than the SAR system, such as power density in μW/m2. Proper warnings and signal strength information should be provided in highly visible places, at the point of sale, rather than hidden in the back of a cell phone manual, similar to the Surgeon General's warning on cigarette boxes. It should not be necessary to look up a code on the cell phone after purchase to find out its rating.
Questionnaire for Before/After Comparisons
In Public Health SOS: The Shadow Side of the Wireless Revolution, Camilla Rees and Magda Havas include "The Green Audit" questionnaire from the EMR Policy Institute, which can be administered in your local community before and after a new cell phone tower or Wi-Max goes up in your community. This questionnaire can also be obtained from Green Audit Questionnaire.Architects/Home Builders
Architects and home builders could design homes with metal-clad wiring and provide shielding when needed from mobile phone base stations/cell towers. They can also avoid EMF-producing dimmer switches and CFL bulbs. Different types of materials offer different degrees of shielding, and it would be helpful to take this into account during building construction. For example, special low-E windows or metalized window films can be used to provide shielding at the same time offering thermal insulation, since the infrared radiation they block is at a similar wavelength to microwave radiation. Cars could also be designed with special windows or window films.
Refuge and Handicap Areas
More safe areas could be created for microwave hypersensitive people like what was done in France and Stockholm. If handicap areas could be created, this would be similar to the non-smoking section of a restaurant. Architectural design and interior design might take into consideration materials that can shield the wireless radiation enough to make it safer, and yet not so much as to completely remove the signal. These days, it can be difficult to find a hotel that does not have Wi-Fi or DECT phones. It would be nice to have some zones for people who cannot tolerate these technologies.